{"id":18924,"date":"2016-09-29T10:42:12","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T18:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=18924"},"modified":"2016-09-29T10:45:40","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T18:45:40","slug":"new-obstacle-for-icahn-macaos-loss-is-packers-gain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/new-obstacle-for-icahn-macaos-loss-is-packers-gain\/","title":{"rendered":"New obstacle for Icahn; Macao’s loss is Packer’s gain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Could Carl Icahn<\/strong>‘s real plan for Trump Taj Mahal<\/strong> be to close it on Oct. 10, then reopen it as a scab property<\/a>? Not if state Sen. James Whelan<\/strong> (D) has anything to say about it. \"IcahnHe’s advancing a bill that would bar any casino owner who closes his business from reopening for five years. Is Uncle Carl willing to wait that long? Whelan’s betting against it. And it remains to be seen why the Taj employees have been singled out by Icahn for punishment for trying to obtain a living wage. His insistence on maintaining the vile Bob Griffin<\/strong>‘s wage and benefit cuts is costing Icahn far more than it’s saving him. At any rate, Whelan’s bill sailed unanimously through the Senate Budget Committee, although no Assembly counterpart has been written yet.<\/p>\n

In other Atlantic City<\/strong> news, Mayor Don Guardian<\/strong> (R) continues to devise strategies that prevent Trenton<\/strong> from taking his city away from him. The latest is the sale of Bader Field<\/strong> to the Municipal Water Authority<\/strong> for a minimum of $100 million. (Glenn Straub<\/strong> covets Bader Field. Now he can ring up the Water Authority and make an offer.) \"Guardian\"Guardian is trying to whittle down $500 million<\/a> in civic debt that must be eradicated by November to prevent a state takeover. On the downside, Guardian was under a mandate to liquidate the water authority by Sept. 15 or violate the covenants of a state loan to Atlantic City. Hizzoner’s plan is to pledge Bader Field as collateral against the loan. Said Guardian of “monetizing” the water authority,\u00a0“That’s a tough word to bite when you don’t want to sell it or lease it or give it away.” As for that other $400 million, maybe Guardian can find other chunks and pieces of the city that Straub would like to buy. The man’s got a fat checkbook.<\/p>\n

* Macao<\/strong>‘s loss is proving to be Australia<\/strong>‘s gain. Chinese whales are accounting for as much as 95% of high-roller play<\/a> Down Under. This is redounding to the benefit of, among others, James Packer<\/strong>‘s Crown Resorts<\/strong>. Packer can make in Australia what he’s missing out on in Macao — and he doesn’t have to share it with Lawrence Ho<\/strong>, either.<\/p>\n

* It’s Gov. Scott Walker<\/strong>‘s worst nightmare: tribal casino expansion in Wisconsin<\/strong>. The Wisconsin Winnebago Tribe<\/strong> is breaking ground on not one, not two but three casino enlargements<\/a>, slated for the towns of Wittenberg<\/strong>, Black River Falls<\/strong> and Wisconsin Dells<\/strong>. Using the popular Ho-Chunk<\/strong> brand to flag the properties, the Winnebago will build the casinos for a thrifty $51 million apiece. Called “Project Forward,” the general aim is to enlarge the gaming floors and amenities of the properties in question. Wittenberg, near Green Bay<\/strong>, is slated for 272 more slots, 10 additional table games, a high-roller room and no-smoking gambling areas. The latter will also be added to the Wisconsin Dells casino, which will get a new bar, poker room and OTB facility. Black River Falls hopes to add a high-limit room, and definitely will build a 120-room hotel and add 200 slots. The Winnebago are fast-tracking Project Forward, with completion targeted for the end of 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Could Carl Icahn‘s real plan for Trump Taj Mahal be to close it on Oct. 10, then reopen it as a scab property? Not if state Sen. James Whelan (D) has anything to say about it. He’s advancing a bill … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,103,82,185,96,94,62,20,21,196,170],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18924"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18924"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18926,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18924\/revisions\/18926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}